Hey guys,

Sorry if this should be a fanshot instead of fanpost...or if you're just plain annoyed by the nature of my post, but....

I am driving to Memphis with my girlfriend and we are going to see the Celtics vs. Grizzlies game on Saturday November 13.  I was wondering if anybody knew of any decent, affordable hotels to stay at in the general area of the FedEx Forum?  We went to a game a few years ago, but the hotel we stayed in was complete garbage.....I guess that's what $45 a night for a hotel will get you.  Anyway, if anybody from the Memphis area had any suggestions or advice for me, I would greatly appreciate it. 

Also, I guess Beale Street is probably the place to go for drinks after/before the game?  Any bars or restaurants you could recommend?  I'm not necessarily looking for anything touristy, just a good time.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help me out!

Shaq will be facing off against Albert Pujols in a Home Run Derby of sorts on Thursday night at 8:30 for his reality show, Shaq Vs.  I am absolutely thrilled to say that this event will take place at TR Hughes Park in my hometown of O'Fallon, Missouri and that I will be one of the lucky 6000 in attendance. 

St. Louis, a city that normally does not even acknowledge the existence of the NBA, has been pretty Shaq crazy the last couple days.  He threw out the opening pitch at Busch Stadium for the Cardinals game on Tuesday night.  Did a pretty good job, too.  Not to get political, but Shaq's pitch ranked better than Obama's but not quite as good as Bush's back in 01 or 02.   

Video of the pitch: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090811&content_id=6374280&vkey=news_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

I'm super pumped so just thought I would share with you all.  Oh, by the way, its pretty funny to see how the reactions in St. Louis to Albert Pujols participating in this event were just like the reactions on here to Shaq participating in this show.  Everyone is worried about their team's superstar athletes getting hurt doing just a short amount more of physical activity, regardless of the sport. 

Did anyone else happen to see Rupaul on the view the other day?  I could not stomach the sight (of Rupaul or those women, except for tasty Elizabeth) so I did not stick around to see what the topic of discussion was, but it made me think. 

I can't help but wonder if that was purely because of Shaq's classic characterization of uber-softy Chris Bosh.  I have not heard the name Rupaul in probably 10 years prior to Shaq's comment.  The guy can truly make anyone or anything relevant again.  Rupaul needs to send Shaq a fruit basket.